The benefits and challenges of White River are newsworthy.

We’re all in this together

The latest installment in the NY Times’ Toxic Waters series addresses the issues of aging and failing sewer systems and the complexities of fixing them.

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Traveling in time down the White River

The radio program Hoosier History Live on 88.7 FM featured Jim Willaert, guest experience general manager at Conner Prairie, describing a tour in time down the west fork of the White River. Jim described how the river influenced the lives of Native Americans and a progression of European settlers, as well as the early canal era, river resort days, and more recent events.

The show aired Saturday, March 13, 2010. To learn more about the show, visit Hoosier History Live.

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Author of book set on White River led reading at Holliday Park

Gregory Schwipps, a finalist in the 2009 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award competition, read from his novel What This River Keeps at a special program at the Holliday Park Nature Center on Saturday, Feb. 27.

Schwipps, an Associate Professor of English at DePauw University, and a member of Friends of the White River, was one of three writers honored in the competition’s “Emerging Author Award” category last fall. He spoke about his fascination with fishing and rural living, and how they have deeply influenced his life and work.

What This River Keeps, his first novel, was published in the spring of 2009. One critic compared it to “the best work of Steinbeck,” with its themes of families, place and generational relationships. The author, who has also written articles for Outdoor Indiana, In-Fisherman, and Indiana Fish and Game magazines, spends much of his free time catfishing the West Fork of White River near his Morgan County home.

To learn more about the book and its author, visit Greg Schwipps’ web site.

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A decade of dedication

White River suffered a devastating blow in December 1999. Five million fish in this waterway were dead, all the way from Anderson to Indianapolis — the result of a deadly and intentional chemical discharge. Members of Friends of the White River were among the first to alert the state, news media and the public. And we’ve continued to work to make sure that the seriousness of this event is never underestimated or forgotten.

For the past 10 years, thousands of volunteers have given time, labor and money to restore a damaged waterway and the river has responded. The Anderson Herald Bulletin takes a soul-searching look back at the events of a decade ago and the state of the river today: Fish Kill: Ten years later, river in better shape, January 16, 2010, by Justin Schneider.

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2009 In Review

Education and outreach, habitat restoration, river expeditions and river cleanups all were part of our activities in 2009. Enjoy the slide show!

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Annual Meeting kicks off new year!

Special awards, prize drawings and an engaging speaker highlighted our January 14 annual membership meeting.

The crowd enjoyed a lively talk by Rupert Boneham, the popular “Survivor” television series contestant who is a dedicated mentor to troubled teens with his Rupert’s Kids program. Part of Rupert’s focus is to get young people outdoors for positive experiences, and he recounted some stories about that from years past.

The Friends also conducted a brief business meeting, during which the 2010 Board of Directors was slated and elected.

Recognition awards

Long-time Friends member and volunteer John Winters (in red shirt) received recognition for decades of service to the river, including streamside classes about macroinvertebrates and other environmental topics.

Amateur running team Indyrok raised a sizable contribution to Friends from pledges they got for running the Mini-Marathon. Pictured, from left: Jason and Stacie Hamilton, Murph Mahaffey (organizer), Chris and Sarah Huffman.

The Kroger Company got a grateful nod for its generous support of multiple cleanups and feeding hard-working volunteers.

Our first traveling award, the “Perseverence Paddle,” went to Veolia Water to recognize a dozen or more of its employees who volunteered for our fall river cleanup.

The two Veolia staffers shown in the photo struggled mightily to cart heavy automobile junk downriver that day — their top-heavy canoe capsized more than once but each time, they loaded the debris again and continued on their way. The Perseverance Paddle was made from a broken paddle recovered during that cleanup.

Friends member Dan Valleskey made this year’s beautiful paddle awards in his shop, then fastened personalized plaques to the fronts of the bases, while member John Pinella cleaned, sanded and refinished our new Perseverance Paddle, which will mark history by carrying an individualized plate for each year’s recipient.

2009 in review

For a quick look back upstream, we have posted an annual report of our 2009 activities (PDF, 913 KB).